1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for determining disc type in an optical disc device, and more particularly to a method for efficiently determining the type of an optical disc inserted into a multi-disc device capable of reproducing and/or recording data in a manner suitable for various optical discs such as CDs or DVDs.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various types of optical discs capable of recording or storing high quality, long duration audio and video data are in widespread use. An optical disc device such as a multi-disc recorder capable of reproducing or recording data on the various types of optical discs has been commercialized.
As shown in FIG. 1, the optical disc device such as the multi-disc recorder includes an optical pickup 11 for accessing an optical disc 10, a play & record system 12, a microcomputer 13, and a memory 14. The microcomputer 13 performs a series of operations for determining the type of the optical disc 10 inserted into the optical disc device.
The microcomputer 13 determines the type of the optical disc inserted into the optical disc device, for example, it determines whether the type of the optical disc 10 inserted in the device is CD-ROM, CD-R or CD-RW in the CD family, or DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW or DVD-RAM in the DVD family, and then performs a series of disc initialization operations, such as a servo operation and an information read operation, suitable for the determined disc type.
FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating a disc type determination procedure according to a related art. If the disc type determination procedure is started, for example, with a DVD-R loaded in the optical disc device as shown in FIG. 2, the microcomputer 13 performs a first disc type determination operation in which it detects the level of a Focus Error (FE) signal and Radio Frequency (RF) signal to determine whether the loaded disc belongs to the CD or DVD family. If the detected level is high, the microcomputer 13 determines that the loaded disc belongs to the CD family. If the detected level is low, the microcomputer 13 determines that the loaded disc belongs to the DVD family. In this example, the microcomputer determines that the loaded disc belongs to the DVD family.
With the loaded disc determined to belong to the DVD family, the microcomputer 13 performs a second disc type determination operation in which it detects the level of DPP, FE and RF signals to determine whether the loaded disc belongs to the DVD-ROM, DVD-R or DVD-RW family. After the second disc type determination operation, the microcomputer 13 checks a rotation state of a spindle motor in the optical disc device to determine the size of the loaded disc (“8 cm” from among two possible disc sizes of “8 cm” and “12 cm” in this example), and then controls focus and tracking servos.
While the focus and tracking servos are activated, the microcomputer 13 performs a third disc type determination operation in which it determines, based on the disc wobble form, whether the loaded disc belongs to the DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW, or DVD+RW family. After the third disc type determination operation, the microcomputer 13 performs adjustment operations according to the disc characteristics such as disc eccentricity, unbalance, tilt and the like, and performs a disc information read operation. For example, if the loaded disc type is CD, the microcomputer 13 reads disc information such as TOC (Table of Contents) information, ATIP (Absolute Time in Pregroove) information and the like, and if the loaded disc type is DVD, the microcomputer 13 reads disc information such as RMD, (Record Management Data), ADIP and LPP information, and control data.
In the general optical disc device, however, it takes a long time (for example, a total of 15.1 seconds for DVD-R) to determine the type of an optical disc inserted into the device since it must sequentially perform a number of the disc type determination operations as described above. Thus, a user must wait a long time until an operation or function desired by the user can actually start.